Focus On... Mansfield

SMBU soccer historian Paul Hunchback looks back at connections between Mansfield and Wanderers ahead of tomorrow’s game.





The Miners’ Strike
An arch-Thatcherite delegation from Wycombe council travelled to Mansfield (when it became clear that many collieries in the area were refusing to strike) to hand over fine wine and egg salad to what were called “Nottinghamshire’s heroes” by acerbic Bucks Free Press columnist Lord Cecil McGhee. As usual, a crack Wanderers team was sent to play the Stags in an exhibition match. Sadly, rampant drunkenness amongst the Wycombe team again caused problems, with left-back Dave Davidson enraging home supporters by “digging for coal” with his bare hands as the teams waited for a corner ball. The team had to be evacuated in a police helicopter [NB: not Airwolf as reported in some books], which accidentally returned south via Yorkshire and blew up a pub in some town or other.

Whose Field?
Mansfield is named after the Anglo Saxon word for a man’s field which is Mans-field. Historians have argued for many years about which man’s field it was, with the majority settling on muscular lawyer, Sir Michael Mansfield. However, I can reveal that there has been a motion lodged in the high court by Lisa Stansfield who has uncovered evidence that she may own the whole town, although she has urged that no-one forces her to move there as she’s just bought a pretty decent semi in Bovey Tracey.

Sex Scenes In Wycombe
Wycombe Swan will see a stage version of Lady Chatterley’s Lover open this autumn and delegates from Mansfield are planning to campaign for the anti-Mansfield line “that once romantic now utterly disheartening colliery town” to be altered in the new performance. Current favourites to replace it are “Mansfield, it has great access to the M1 but you can barely hear the noise of lorries and that” or “that once landlocked now beachside resort town”. A spokesman for the Wycombe Swan said “any changes must be approved by DH Lawrence, so we’ll give him a bell”.

08.02.2008. 19:06

Write a comment